Settlement for Jacksonville youth accused of killing a Toccoa women

JAXKSONVILLE - The family of a 16-year-old boy wrongly accused in the slaying of a Georgia tourist has reached a $775,000 settlement with the city of Jacksonville.

The boy's family, thorough attorney Tom Fallis, announced the settlement of the civil lawsuit Monday. The lawsuit had requested $8.5 million.

The settlement followed three weeks of negotiations between the parties over the suit, which was filed in October.

Among the allegations was that Butler was beaten by police and wrongly jailed for six months before trial in the May 2000 robbery-slaying of Georgia tourist Mary Ann Stephens. He was acquitted by a jury.

The boy's trial was subject of an Oscar-winning documentary, ``Murder on a Sunday Morning.''

Fallis said the family decided to settle for various reasons, including concerns about how long the case would drag out and whether it could be proved under federal civil rights law.

City officials are denying any responsibility for what happened to Butler under the action. The settlement releases the police officers from any liability.

A phone call to city attorneys seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Stephens, 64, of Toccoa, Ga., was shot in the face outside a Jacksonville Ramada Inn on May 7, 2000, by a person who grabbed her purse.

Butler, then 15, was arrested later that day and was identified by Stephens' husband as the killer. Butler signed a confession, police said.

When Butler's trial began in November 2000, the prosecution's case was plagued by a lack of evidence. The gun used in the slaying was never found. Butler's fingerprints were not on the victim's purse, and he did not have gunpowder residue on his hands or blood on his clothing.

Butler testified that detectives beat the confession out of him.

After the acquittal and the arrest of other suspects, Sheriff Nat Glover and State Attorney Harry Shorstein apologized to Butler, who is finishing high school and working part time.

A grand jury convened to look into the Butler case found no criminal wrongdoing, but suggested that changes be made in police interrogation procedures.

Six months later, Glover said he would institute some of those recommendations, including videotaping statements of suspects.